1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices for processing information on tape and more particularly relates to an improved fast reset variable message magnetic recorder player.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years magnetic recording equipment has found a wide usage in a variety of different environments. A number of different arrangements have been used for recording in such equipment. Reels of tapes, combinations of tape reels and magnetic recording discs and the use of so-called cassettes of magnetic recording tape have all been employed with varying degrees of success for this particular purpose. Naturally the use of several different techniques in the same device is possible and feasible but the complexity results in a unit that is less than economically attractive. A very inexpensive and straight approach is to employ a so-called endless loop of magnetic tape as a media, upon which information may be recorded. Such devices naturally are limited by the amount of tape available and physical limitations of the device size preclude extensive length of magnetic tape being employed for this purpose.
A telephone answering and recording apparatus employing an endless loop tape for the purpose of providing an announcement message in accordance with this technique is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,226 which issued to Sava W. Jacobson on Dec. 18,1973. In this unit however, the incoming messages are recorded on a tape cassette even though a common drive mechanism is operative to provide the power for both the endless tape and for the cassette.
As noted however in such arrangements, the size of the outgoing messages is determined by the size of the loop and naturally the size is often ineffective to provide sufficient media for recording of incoming messages. In order to hold the unit to convenient size it is necessary to restrict the length of the loop size. U.S. Pat. No. 3,281,039 which issued to Thomas P. Foley on Oct. 25, 1966 suggests an optional arrangement. In this arrangement an improved information processing device employing a magnetic tape loop is suggested wherein the effective usable tape surface is increased substantially without increasing the size of the overall device by employing a tape loop having magnetizable layers on two surfaces along with a twisted configuration of the tape so that two complete revolutions of the tape are required to expose both surfaces to a magnetic read and write head. In this manner, the effective tape surface available for recording and playback is doubled.
No technique however is taught in the Foley patent whereby if the information recorded on the tape occupies less than the entire tape, the tape can be rapidly returned to its beginning. In the Foley arrangement, a complete cycle of the tape must be employed each and every time it is utilized. Obviously a requirement for fast return to the beginning exists.
While the use of simple magnetic tape loops has been widely used, difficulty obviously exists with usage thereof, since it is impossible to rewind such tapes, usually employing instead a fast forward feed. The fast forward feed or mode of operation of the tape is frequently attained by speeding up the rotating speed of a rotary capstan for driving the tape. It is well known that the rotating speed of an electric motor for driving the capstan can be raised or a reduction ratio of a speed reducing device coupling the electric motor to the capstan can be reduced for the purpose of speeding up the rotating speed of the capstan. However a motor capable of varying its rotating speed is generally expensive and a speed reducing device is complicated to automate. Fast reset devices for tape recorders usually involve a great deal of electromechanical apparatus which must be critically adjusted, must rewind or advance at extremely high speeds and usually will not provide a fast enough reset time. For instance, a one minute tape might take three to four seconds which might be too slow for some applications. On the other hand, drum and disc type recorders provide fast reset but also entail extensive cost in the recorder media as well as in the apparatus itself. Accordingly it is the purpose of the present invention to provide a magnetic tape recorder playback device which employs the economic advantages of a single or endless loop of tape as the recording media and provides a simple inexpensive fast reset technique.